Voting for 48HFF Films

Recently blogged about attending the 48 Hour Film Festival Screenings. So, how do I decide who I think the top three are? Using a deck of playing cards, I randomly draw...kidding!

Obviously, if I was involved, beyond being in the pool of available actors, it's an automatic vote.

Things that count against you:

• Turning film in late. Would need to totally blow all other films out of the water.
• Major technical issues. Notice I said major. That 10 seconds of no picture or the 30 seconds of audio/visual being out of sync are not vote killers.
• If the sexual content stops just short of porn or 50% of the dialogue is the F-bomb or other lettered word; vote killer.
• Being in genre voted for at previous screening. If I already voted for a sci-fi, but not a drama and I am debating between the two, drama will probably get the vote. This is if I am debating between the two. If sci-fi was way better than drama, sci-fi gets the vote even thought I already voted for a sci-fi.
• Using inanimate objects as actors. If credits listed several actors as the voices of X, Y, and Z, film would be weighed the same as actual actors. But usually Fred and Mary Hammersly do all the male & female voices, respectively. As well as being producer, director, writer, editor...

Things that count for you:

• Having someone I know work on the project. Needless to say, the better I know said individual and the more respect I have for them, the more points. Would need to be able to somewhat justify voting for the film if the person was not involved, but their involvement will erase a lot of sins.
• Drawing me into the film. If the actors are able to get me to care about and believe the characters; major points.
• Also, major points for 1. moving me emotionally 2. coming up with an excellent storyline and 3. overall package: acting, script, cinematography, editing..all very important.